Winning Post-1500m: With the rail back in the True position the inside three lanes are noticeably fresher than out wider. The coverage is solid and it walked a soft 5. Doubt you’ll see many out wider than lane 3 in this section.
1500-800m: The inside three lanes are also cleaner and more even in this section with noticeably more sandfill in lanes 4 and 5. As we've seen in recent weeks, inside lanes with better coverage and less fill doesn't always result in a faster racing surface at this time of year. That said, I'd still slightly lean to those inner lanes as being the best ground. Walked a '5' also.
800m-400m: The inside half of the track, or lanes 1-5, is very uniform and walks evenly with good grass coverage. The outer half of the track contains a lot more fill and you can see it's had a lot more traffic in relation to the inner half. The benefit of big rail movements is that there are enough fresh lanes to give most horses the opportunity to race within them. Slight chance the fence slows up towards the end of the card.
400m-Winning Post: The inside 4 lanes are all fresh and in similar condition in the straight. I felt lanes 5 and 6 would race slower with the rougher surface and additional fill. Doubt too many will come wider than lane 6 but out there might not be too bad either. I felt it walked a genuine 5 and they would mark it with racing but not drastically.
Verdict: With the rail back to True for the first time in a few months it's not hard to see the inside lanes are much fresher than out wide. The coverage and growth is solid in those lanes but not overly thick to the point where it will race slower. From the 800m to the winning post I thought there were at least four lanes that would race evenly. That should give most horses their chance but I'd be wary of lanes 5 and 6 if they fan a little too wide. Certainly wouldn't be penalising on-speed horses or horses drawn inside gates early on. There's a chance lane 1 marks up a touch more towards the middle of the card. I expect it to race in the '5' range with a chance of a downgrade if any rain falls.
Royal Blue, Gold Stripes And Hooped Sleeves, Quartered Cap
Owners
Mrs B Knight, Clanbrooke Racing No 4, A Burgess, Clanbrooke Racing No 3, Ms K Lewis, Mrs G Donnelley, D Troy, G Schultz, Top Hat Racing (Mgr: J Maher), R Sloane, P Heinz, C Kerr, P Hogan, S Mitchell, Boom (Mgr: Mrs P Schloss), R Franklin, R Drew, P Nicholson & M Clark
Royal Blue, Gold Diamond Band, Diamond Striped Sleeves, Gold Cap
Owners
Ms T J Hartwell, T M Borschman, Mrs S Borschman, SA Miller, K D Valladares, G A Wakefield, Ms E Willgoose, Ms S Moody, I R Dietrich, BGI Racing (Mgr: K A Busbridge), Miller Dietrich Yerfayze (Mgr: SA Miller) & Il Primo (Mgr: F De Pasquale)
